Transcripts For MSNBCW Morning Joe 20190404

As well . Plus, new reporting this morning on the Mueller Probe from the New York Times. Democrats are not satisfied with William Barrs summary, and neither, apparently, are members of. Special counsels team. Why they feel the a. G. Undersold the reports damaged to President Trump. Well bring in one of the reporters behind that story. Well also speak to the reporters from the miami herald, as that paper dig noos into a federal investigation into possible chinese spying operations targeting the president at his florida golf club. Were also following the latest developments with joe biden, former Vice President biden now promising to be more respectful of personal space as other women come forward saying he made them uncomfortab uncomfortable. Welcome to morning joe. Joe is back with one more day. Along with willie and me, we have mike barnicle, contributor to Time Magazine and former aide to the george w. Bush white house and state department, elise jordan,richard haas is with us and Senior Security analyst for msnbc news juan zuarrte is with us and jake sherman is with us. The New York Times reports that some of muellers investigators have told associates that barr failed to adequately portray their finding, which government officials and others familiar with their frustration say were more damaging for President Trump than indicated. The times reports the special counsel investigators had already written multiple summaries of the report and some team members believe that barr should have included more of their material in his fourpage letter. But government Officials Say the Justice Department determined that the summaries contain sensitive information, like classified material, secret grand jury testimony and information related to current federal investigations that must remain confidential. Whe while the report said it was not clear what special investigators viewed as troubling, barr said the report sets out evidence on both sides of the question. And President Trumps legal team responded to the the New York Times piece late last night. Rudy giuliani saying, quote, if there was a significant difference, mueller would have corrected it as he did the false bu buzzfeed report. This is from disgruntled mueller staffers who are rabid Democrat Supporters supporters. The Justice Department declined to respond to the New York Times story but the party reports that attorney general barrs team has its own frustration with mueller. Barr and other Justice Department officials believe the special counsel investigators fell short of their task by declining to decide whether President Trump illegally obstructed the inquiry, leaving barr to make a decision. But as nbc news reported, mueller gave barr and the d. O. J. Three weeks notice that he would not make a conclusion on obstructi obstruction. Officials familiar with the attorney generals thinking tells the times that barr and his aides limited the details they revealed because they were worried about wading into plit te political territory. Michael schmidt of the times joins us this morning. Let me ask you to dig in to these members see the conflict to what bill barr put out and the report . Theres an issue here with the narrative. The problem that the members of the special counsel team have are with the fact that barr was able to come out, essentially clear the president , but not give the details, the sort of fruits of the investigation, the fuller picture of what was found. They believe there is some troubling conduct there and that it needs to be looked at and the public should know about it. But in the way inthat barr did that, he essentially cleared the president and gave no other information, and this has allowed in the eyes of sum for the narrative to be set that the president did nothing wrong. Now, the president himself has exacerbated this by going out and saying that he was completely exonerated by the Mueller Report. That is not what barr said the Mueller Report does. The Mueller Report does not exonerate or condemn the president. It seems like it more provides a bunch of facts. And the special counsels team looks at what the president says and says he is taking it out of context and twisting their work and that bothers them. Do the people, michael, that you spoke to contest to the conclusion as presented by the attorney general that there was no collusion . Thats been the headline from the white house and do the sources you spoke to out of the special counsels office dispute that headline . The sense is less on the issue of collusion than it is on obstruction. Barr was pretty definitive in his letter about what mueller found on collusion, essentially saying theres no case to be made that the campaign conspired with the russians. What it comes back to is the issue of obstruction and the picture the report paints of actions the president took in office to interfere with the investigation. That even barr acknowledges in his letter is something that mueller couldnt make a decision on and sort of lays out reasons for and against why some of the president s actions are so problematic. And the folks that are frustrated here see the president come out and say he was completely exon raerated on this issue. They know this is not accurate and they want the contents of the report to be out there. The question is when will that happen, when will the report be out and when will people be able to decide. The question is how do you deal with the president s conduct . The Justice Department is there to decide whether people broke the law or not. They decided that the president has not broken the law. The attorney general has made that determination. So what information should be released to the public . In the case of hillary clinton, a lot of pop criticized james comey for holding his press conference and laying out what the fbi found, but in this case it looks like the Justice Department is going to release a lot of what they did find in the investigation. So its a very difficult balancing act when you have a highprofile investigation in which the public really wants to know what has been found out but there may not have been criminality. The attorney generals letter made it it did not fully exonerate the president , the way the president has. Bob mueller couldnt determine one way or another whether there was obstruction. Are you saying your sources inside the special counsels office say they do have evidence that the president of the United States obstructed justice . Im not sure how clean and clear cut the special counsel is on their determination of whether the president broke the law. What our sense is is that there is a lot of information and fact that they have found on this issue. They were unable to make a determination and they wanted for that information to be passed to the attorney general to make the call or to someone else. But they couldnt come to it. They did a lot of work on that issue. They spoke to a lot of white house officials, they really delved into the actions the president took in office. What we dont know is why they didnt come to a determination, why was it that they couldnt decide whether the president broke the law. And we wont have clarity on that until we see the report. So, michael, would it be accurate to say that part of the issue here with this mornings timess story centers around the fact that you had professional investigators, both legal, fbi investigating things for two years, they did an enormous amount of work, interviewed hundreds of witnesses, especially on the obstruction component and within the report, they are upset because of barrs reference sort of lightly referencing the obstruction component when the Building Blocks of the obstruction investigation we wont know until we read it but bob muellers career is such that he would never issue a report leaving large questions like that unanswered. He might give direction but wouldnt leave the questions unanswered and that is the source of their anger over the attorney generals behavior . I think their frustration is with the fact that barr comes out and clears the president but doesnt give the larger sense of what they found. Doesnt provide the additional sort of fruits of the investigation that they thought were problematic. They didnt come to a determination on whether the president broke the law for some reason, and they obviously want some of these facts to be seen in a different light, either by the public or by congress. Maybe, and im not sure of this, maybe they think that the conduct was such that it was problematic that congress should look at it and that congress may want to look at for impeachment but may not be criminal. Maybe that is why they want it out there. Whatever it is, theres a rub here. Theres a frustration here in how the end of this investigation was conducted. And that is clear. Did you pick up anything in your reporting, michael, that would indicate some of the investigators were upset that they knew that bob mueller would not indict the president because supposedly the Justice Department does not want the rule the president cannot be indicted and he didnt want to tie the thing up for another year, year and a half in court . Im not sure that they got that far. And when barr puts out his letter, his determination, he said that they had not taken into consideration the question of whether the president could have been indicted on the criminal question, essentially saying i dont think that they got that far, i dont think that they thought there was even enough of a case to have made that determination. That in barrs eyes. Mu mueller had not done that. Meanwhile, after the Justice Department missed House Democrats tuesdays ledline to hold over the Mueller Report, the House Committee authorized jerry nadler to issue a subpoena for the full report and all of the underlying evidence but nadler said he wants to give barr, quote, time to change his mind about redacting the report before submitting it to congress. Were going to work with the attorney general for a short period of time in the hope that he will reveal to us the entire Mueller Report but if that doesnt work out in a short period of time, well issue the subpoena. Are you saying im just going to say very short order. Im not saying how many times. I dont need to see the grand jury testimony. I dont have this paranoia that my friends on the left have that the conclusions are really not what they are. You made reference to the Mueller Report. Have you seen it . Because we havent. Ive seen the principal findings by the attorney general. Bob mueller has provided his findings to the attorney general, who has accurately summarized those. These investigations should end. We should move on. What basically were doing here is in my opinion the democrats are asking attorney general barr to violate the law. The attorney general is doing exactly what he said he would be doing, making as much of the report public as to be under federal law and department policy. Whats the rush . Spring break probably. Lets go to jake. Tell me your reporting on this. I wonder what william barr would have to gain by completely misleading the American People. Im just wondering, should his summary be given more benefit of the doubt or does the times reporting suggest a real conflict here . The last couple days on capitol hill with members of congress, one thing has come up constantly, if barrs letter was so misrepresentative, why werent the mueller people complaining about it and then these two stories dropped last night with the mueller people complaining about it. So i found that fascinating. A few things to me seem abund t abundantly clear. Democrats are going to within i would assume days send the subpoena to the Justice Department for this report. They have already authorized the subpoena and the window of time is going to shrink. But their patience is going to shrink quite quickly. Number two, this issue is not going away on capitol hill at any point soon. I think theres going to be more subpoenas flying, more invitations for testimony, more hand wringing over there. Over the last 24 hours weve seen the ways and Means Committee issue a request for trumps tax returns, weve seen other committees issue requests for trumps Financial Information going back decades, we have the Washington Post reporting that Jared Kushner might have been subject to foreign influence and that why hes security clearance was at risk. I mean, this has suddenly turned into a very, very perilous 24 to 48 hours for this president when it comes to his relationship with capitol hill and the investigations on capitol hill, which are just frankly, just revving up. Elise jordan, whats the politics of this . Youve heard republicans saying weve seen enough of the report, weve seen the attorney generals version of it. I think trump won the first round on this. I think that what we are hearing from on background, its source, unidentified sources, thats what the mueller investigators feel and they want more information and they know the first draft of history has been set. Its very difficult to walk back that narrative once donald trump has been by his handpicked attorney general been correct. There are summaries that the mueller investigators, they could have used those summaries, they tried to give usable summaries so that the entire report didnt have to be released. Its definitely we would like to see the report. Everybody would. I dont know how anyone can make a plausible case against seeing the report. The attorney general says hell release the full report. Its a question of what report do you see . What are the redactions in there . I think there are appropriate redactions, theres classified material, grand jury testimony, all kind of things the public doesnt and probably shouldnt see. Was there any kind of conversation, it seems like there wasnt based on michael schmidts reporting, about what was going to be the rollout of the findings. Look it, to put a little perspective on it, were all kind of flying blind. Were talking about a report thats well over 300 pages, which was boiled down to maybe two sentence fragments in the attorney generals release. Exactly. This is its frustrating, its bizarre. On one level we should all hold off because theres no report to look at. On the other hand, the temptation to talk about it is obviously great given how significant it is. The democrats have to be careful here and others, it doesnt look almost like theyre sore losers, that theyre keeping a story alive that people are ready to move on. The politics again work in the president s favor. Curiosity aside, why would we want to see the report from a National Security perspective . Its a great question, mika. One of the things that Robert Mueller was doing was looking at and building a case around russian influence in the u. S. Election. It wasnt just a question of whether or not the president or the campaign was colluding. That was a critical criminal inquiry, but the broader question of what russian influence looked like, how they built their campaign in 2016, what the agents looked like, their methodology, all of that is exactly what Robert Mueller began to expose. You remember the very first set of indictments that came from the special prosecutor,special investigator had to do with the russians themselves. He was laying the predicate what it was the russians were trying to do and how they were doing it. The lingering question for me here and ive said all along, mika that what weve needed from Robert Mueller has been credibility, clarity and closure. We havent gotten all of that yet. The clarity will come with the release of the report, redacted as it will be. The closures not yet there. One of the interesting questions from a National Security perspective is what degree of influence and leverage have the russians had over the american political system, not just the president. Others, like the chinese, the iranian iranians, are looking at this, reading the play book and will try to influence and divide the country the way the russians did. House democrats have filed a formal request with the Treasury Department asking for six years of the president s business and personal tax returns. The request was made in a twopage letter sent to the irs commissioner seeking details about trumps personal returns from 2013 through 2018 including whether they are now or have ever been under audit. Statement neal writes we have completed the necessary groundwork for a request of this magnitude and i am certain we are within our legitimate legal and oversight rights. President trump told reporters last night that he would not be inclined to do so. The chairman of the Democratic House ways and Means Committee moments ago asked the irs for six years of your tax returns. Is that all . Thats all. Usually its ten. I guess theyre giving up. Were under audit, despite what people said as im always under audit it seems. Ive been under audit for many years because the numbers are big and i guess when you have a name, youre audited. Until such time as im not under audit, i would not be inclined to do that. Thank you. First of all, this is the longest audit in the history of audit, if in fact there is an audit. We should get him an accountant at h r block. You have democrats controlling the ways and means, this is a Campaign Promise, that they would get their hands on the tax returns. What are the odds they actually are produced by the irs . Thats a very good question. So this isnt a bank shot. This is in law. The ways and means and the Senate Finance committee have the unilateral right to obtain any americans tax returns. Theyre not asking for some sort of special treatment. Theyre asking for the irs to comport with the law. Of course the irs reports to treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, who reports to the president of the United States. So there are roadblocks that the Treasury Department can put up by saying perhaps he is under audit. There is a lot of president s and Vice President s do go under automatic audit. So thats not that crazy, i guess, in heretheory. In statute, this is the law. Again, something thats going to drag out for many months. They can subpoena, they can have Steven Mnuchin on capitol hill to testify about why they are not giving up these records, but chuck grassley, the chairman of the Senate Finance committee yesterday said we are not going to set this precedent to use someones tax returns as a political cudgel. This is going to become yet another partisan battle. But well whether their rates. Jake, thank you very much. Well be speaking about you next week about your forthcoming book. Still ahead on morning joe from impromptu super bowl meetings to meeting with parl o owners, there is now an investigation on possible chinese spying at maralago. Well be right back. T maralago well be right back. Le, even if its a better car class than the one you reserved. So no matter what, youre guaranteed to have a perfect drive. [laughter] vo go national. Go like a pro. See what i did there . High protein. Low sugar. Tastes great high protein. Low sugar. So good high protein. Low sugar. Mmmm, birthday cake pure protein. The best combination for every fitness routine. Neighbors. Loved ones. Living with diseases like cancer, epilepsy, Mental Health conditions and hiv. Maybe youre one of them. But new medicare rules could deny access to the latest, most effective therapies. Therapies that keep them healthy. Are medicare cuts that save less than one percent worth the risk to millions of patients . President trump promised to protect medicare. We need him to keep his word. Bookers book now and ask their boss later. [do you want breakfast or no . ] [definitely breakfast. ] be a booker at booking. Com in honor of my dad, who was alzheimers. I decided to make shirts for the walk with custom ink, and they just came out perfect. [announcer] check out our huge selection of Custom Apparel for every occasion. Youll even get free shipping. Get started today at customink. Com. The latest youinisnt just a store. Tyng. Its a save more with a new kind of Wireless Network store. Its a look what your wifi can do now store. A get your questions answered by awesome experts store. Its a now theres one store that connects your life like never before store. The xfinity store is here. And its simple, easy, awesome. Mr. President , are you concerned that the chinese may be trying to conduct espionage against you at maralago . Well, i saw the story. I havent spoken to anybody about it other than a brief meeting, gave me a little bit of information. Im not concerned at all. We have very good control and its Getting Better and, frankly, what were doing with cyber is a story in itself. No, i think that was just a fluke situation. No, i think it just a fluke. That was President Trump yesterday. The miami herald reveals federal authorities have been investigating possible chinese spying respirations taoperation president at his florida golf club. The federal counterintelligence probe was turbo charged over the weekend after a secret Service Agent arrested a chinese woman as she was trying to enter maralago with a slew of electronics, including a thumb drive infected with malicious software. Thats not good. She was reportedly unknown to federal authorities before she was arrested and the fbis Counterintelligence Division is investigating just who she really is and if she has ties to chinese intelligence. Joining us now, one of the miami herald reporters who broke that story, sarah blasski. Sarah, the slew of electronics, including the thumb drive, do we know anymore about what was in them and what more do you have on this . This is quite incredible. Sure. What we know is that federal authorities are examining all of the electronic, the four cell phones, the computer, the hard drive and the thumb drive to try to determine exactly what the purpose of this malware was. It could be for anything. The use of malware is extensive and theyre still trying to determine what she intended to do, if she did breach the perimeter of maralago. At this point we dont know anymore, but of course were following up. Say, sarah, its willie geist. Do we know anything more about the woman who was arrested, miss zhang, obviously not a babe in the woods who happened to wander into maralago. What do we know about her . Actually, at first some people did think she was just some sort of a fluke. Now we know shes a focus of a broader counterintelligence investigation. Shes a 32yearold woman who came from shanghai to south florida in order to go to maralago to attend an event, she said. Beyond that we dont know who she was or if she was working with anyone else or just on her own. The president called this a fluke. It seems like id be very concerned about this kind of fluke but thats just me. Dave, you cover the maralago in your area. What have you heard . What has your office heard about this and whats the possibility this is just some random fluke . Well, the feds have right to take this seriously because this is a woman who traveled more than 20 hours from shanghai, showed up at the gates of maralago and then lied repeatedly about her intentions and then was found with malware. You have access determined by private Club Management who made a mistake in allowing her in. They are too easy in allowing members and guests and people who claim to be guests of members in, as in this case. Do we know where this woman is this morning . Is she still in the jurisdiction . Is she being held . Is she free . Is she bonded . Whats the story . She is being held. She has another Court Appearance on monday. Other than that, we dont know anything. Her actual location was still not recorded yesterday when i checked, although that might change today. I think well find out more about her and her circumstances on monday. Dave, aronberg, can you exted to me what that means . It seems that every person that comes on that property would be assessed by white house security, by the secret service. I know that getting into maralago, the security they have there, theyre well aware of anybody whos on that property. So im not sure its possible that they made a mistake. I think thats a stretch as well. But explain to me the two different tracks of how people are allowed into maralago and to be able to walk around in there and be close to the president of the United States. Maralago security is handled by secret service in the Palm Beach County sheriffs office, who screens everyone who comes in for weapons and contraband. They particularly also see screened vehicle come in. You had miss zhang show up by taxi or uber and walks up to a secret Service Agent, asking to use the pool and not having any pool gear on her. It was crazy. Then the Club Management said, all right, your last name is the same as an existing club member and they allowed her. Zhang in china is like smith in the u. S. This was a big blunder. This was a private maralago administration problem. Meanwhile the Washington Post has new reporting on a chinese individual known as dr. Charles who according to the paper appears to be neither a doctor nor a charles. According to both the post and the miami herald, zhang told secret Service Agents she was on the property by invitation of charles, which is an influence peddling organization, which may have been involved in chinese efforts to get close to trump and others. The beijing address listed for the association and found no such organization. Richard haas, chinese influence, problems here, go. There are two obvious p possibilities here, this is some scam that people are using out of china to get rich and the other is that china has targeted maralago. This is an obvious target. The chinese vacuumed the entire office of personnel management. They got 20 million files out of there with americans personal data. Of course theyre going after maralago. Its a loose place, its easy to get into, people are talking openly, using nonsecure cell phones. If im in the intel business and i work for china, i ought to be fired not for going to maralago. It not just maralago. Every trump property, every hotel is looked at as a target because this president has refused to divest and separate himself from his moneymaking operations. This is the fundamental problem why that form of corruption threatens our security. Just as an aside here, years ago visiting trump at trump tower, one thing he loves to do with his guest is stop halfway down on the elevator. I guess the largest bank in china has offices there and he likes to show it off and show how big it is. Hes done that. Ive been there. Thats totally out there separately. So, juan, why might this not be a fluke and why might it be a grave concern in terms of chinese influence . I think what everyone has said is exactly right. This is a targetrich environment. Its an open environment. Its not the under 18 acres of the white house controlled environment, its not camp david. You have lots of events and foreign visitors attend. If you want insights, this is where you would go. If you want to influence, this is where you go. If you want to get close to the president potentially, this is where you go. So as richard said, we should expect this is exactly what the chinese are going to do. Whats interesting here is this looks like a pretty lowlevel, poor attempt at an intelligence operation. This woman doesnt seem she certainly want a student on the the front lawn as dave indicated but she also wasnt the best of breed in terms of chinese intelligence operations. Its a bit of a mixed bag but eight wakeup call to the fact these are open environments, theyre target rich and you have counterintelligence operations that are likely trying to get as close as possible for nearterm insights but also perhaps for longterm influence. Weve got to be very careful that the secret service is mindful of this, but this is really important to keep a close eye on. The first rule about espionage, if youre going to lie about swimming, show up with a bathing suit. And a name thats come up in a context is that of cindy yangs, the massage parlor entrepreneur down in florida. How does she fit into this picture and china peddling influence and access to maralago . Cindy yang is what opened our eyes to this online where events could be fundraisers are advertised in buyers in china who want to gain access to the president and his family. So cindy yang was sort of our window into this world but also in this case of the arrest on saturday, the woman was coming to attend an event that cindy yang was advertising and putting on loongside another event that cindy yang was also heavily advertising. So dr. Charles lee is actually a known associate of cindy yang. The miami herald reported last wook that there was sort of an exodus of major fundraisers and it opened the door to other people who may have not previously had Charity Events and to people like cindy yang, we see cindy yang, we see dr. Charms bringing gets to everything from a friends of israel event last february to the new Years Eve Party just a few months ago. Okay. So dave aronberg, any or all of these, is your office looking into any other guests at maralago . Is there a way of tracking all the guests, every single one and employees at maralago . And whats next with this . Well, the feds are investigating. I anticipate more information will be released by the time of her bond this could be totally innocent. If she were a chinese spy, she is probably the worst spy if her intent is to infiltrate the Computer System of maralago with mallewear, she missed it by that much. She took a ride on the go dlrt, she it could be just an innocent explanation. Well know more in the coming days. David aronberg, thank you very much and sarah blassky, thank you as well. Your paper is doing amazing investigative report, including the Jeffrey Epstein plea deal. Still ahead it, appeared to be a rare home of bipartisan. Nato spoke to congress yesterday about the importance of americas alliances around the world. Well talk to someone who was in the room to hear that speech. And one of the most talked about democrats in the nation right now, Stacey Abrams is our guest here on set. Were back in just a moment. Were back in just a moment. No matter where you are in life or what your dreams entail, a cfp professional is trained, knowledgeable, and committed to Financial Planning in your best interest. Find your certified financial planner™ professional at letsmakeaplan. Org. Find your certified financial planner™ professional even our pets know to go because its the easiest way to save 30 on all the medications we carry. So skip the search and go directly to petmeds. Com now. So lets promote our spring ftravel deals, on choicehotels. Com like this sneezes earn one free night when you stay just twice this spring. Allergies. Or. Badda book. Badda boom. Book now at choicehotels. Com. The United States pays for a very big share of nato, a disproportionate share. So we pay for a big portion of nato, which is basically protecting europe. At the same time theyve taken advantage of us on trade. They have the best of all worlds. Were protecting countries that take advantage of trade. Nato has been good for europe, but nato has always been good for the United States. The strength of a nation is not only measured by the size of its economy or the number of its soldiers, but also by the number of its friends. And to nato the United States has more friends and allies than any other power. This has made the United States stronger, safer and more secure. Thats nato secretarygeneral Jens Stoltenberg. And joining us nicholas burns, professor of diplomacy and International Relations at the Harvard Kennedy school of government. Here on set, nbc news and Senior Foreign Affairs analyst, brett mcguirk. He resigned in december in protest of President Trumps then decision to withdraw all u. S. Troops from syria. Gentlemen, good morning. Well talk about syria in just a moment, brett. We had nick burns on yesterday laying out the case for nato that the president doesnt quite seem to get or doesnt quite seem to be able to make. In your opinion how important is nato to the United States . Its an extraordinary moment. Nancy pelosi and Mitch Mcconnell came together to extend this invitation to Jens Stoltenberg and he brought the house down with a simple message, that its good to have friends. He talked about the importance of nato in the history but also Going Forward. China and russia dont have allies and partners, they have transactional relationships. So we need nato Going Forward. Its cyber intelligence, pooling information among all of these coalitions. We brought about 80 countries around the the world together, nato is a critical element of that and thats one reason we succeeded. Yet the president seems to view nato like a transactional relationship and like a finance relationship, were getting screwed on this deal, we want more money out of you. He still doesnt get it. We defend europe because the balance of power matters intimately to the United States. Its not as though were paying, quote unquote, more than our share. With everything we spend on defense, it comes to about 3. 5 of our economy. Thats probably about on average half what we spent during the cold war. So we can afford this. And what goes on out there directly affects what happens here. This is not money thats thrown away or wasted. This is an investment in ourselves. And its a great investment. Its actually been one of the real bargains of American History. You look at whats happened since world war ii. This has been one of the great accomplishments, bargains, of americas Foreign Policy. So whats behind the president s disdain of it . He cast it is away as kind of a bogus financial transaction even. I think despite what the president said about nato, whats extraordinary about yesterday which is a moment that we havent had for a while where a little bit of our Foreign Policy does stop at the waters edge and it was a bipartisan consensus of the importance of the institution of nato and Congress Said were going to make statement that the United States needs nato. We had the democratic speaker of the house, Vice President pence, standing behind the nato secretarygeneral. Well, it was good to see. I think what was remarkable this was the president couldnt summon himself to have a summit meeting, the president has been so here bipartisan, Jens Stoltenberg gave the speech the president shouldnt given today, today is the 70th anniversary of nato and dwight eisenhower, dulles that, generation, and our president couldnt even thank people for the past and stoltenberg gave a brilliant speech. Switching gears a little bit, i dont think that i could overstate how central your work and your expertise in our strategy to combat isis, starting from yo role at the nsc during the Bush Administration and war in iraq and afghanistan and your role as the forefront point man in that battle. What do you see right now with our alliances in the region and donald trump says that isis has been defeated. Do you agree with that assessment . I think the campaign against isis has been a success. We designed the campaign under president obama to draw on all the Lessons Learned over 15 years, relying on local actors and its been a success. And President Trump carried on with the strategy and its been a success but its not over. Theres great uncertainty now about our staying power in syria and this has led to concern with our allies. The arab league did get together last week and within thione thid was condemn the United States for their decision on the golan heights. We werent present in that summit, russia was there. The Russian Foreign deputy was there meeting with the members of the arab league and we were absent. Our institutions are demonstrating our allies are bedrock. Nato was created to keep the americans in europe, to manage german nationals and keep the russians out. And those reasons are still relevant. When the cold war ended, people were searching around, why do we still need nato . We have a reemerged russian threat, weve got cyber threats, weve got terrorist threats, challenges in europe and outside of europe. The organization is probably stronger today than its been in any time since it was created for European Security but increasin increasingly for global security. Having these 28, soon to be 29 partners of the United States, think of the leverage. We do not have to act unilaterally. We have partners who are willing to work with us. And u. N. Ab, he certainly drove that point home yesterday. His key line is its good for us to have friends. Its a powerful thing not to be alone in the world but to have these democratic friends to oppose the russians and chinese when we must. Juan, everythings this fight with the president , everythings about america first. The alliances we have, theyre all we got at some point in terms of our place in the world, especially given whats gone down over the past two years. Thats right, mika. I think the debate around nato is a reflection of the president s somewhat disdain for multilateral institutions. He prefers the bilat rahal approa bil bila bilataral approach. The future from the challenge from russia is very real as we know it and the challenge from china is very real and the issue of chinese technology, were seeing it with huawei, zte and others, nato is a platform through which and by which we need to deal with these issues. I think nick burns is absolutely right in that regard. All right, thank you all and richard haas, thank you as well. Still ahead, former Vice President joe biden says he will change his behavior after several women said he made them feel uncomfortable. Well talk about that. Plus, senator Jeanne Shaheen and former senator Claire Mccaskill will be in. And joe and his band, the independent council of funk, theyll be playing in less than two weeks. If you want ticket, you got to call the cutting room. Last week it released a song called austin texas and now filter, a music service, theyve added the song to a few of their amazing play lists, country roads, country summer and fall fields. Head over to filter. Com or you can listen to it on spotify. Morning joe is back in a moment. Morning joe is back in a moment who see things others cant. Theyre the ones who see a city that can make those who live in it feel a little safer. Who see cars that can talk to each other and share their best shortcuts. 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Verizon got us vip tickets three feet away from justin timberlake. My wife, me, jt. laughing what . Insanity. vo get vip tickets to the best artists and more, on us. Plus, save big when you switch. Only on verizon. Hillary wanted to put up wind. Wind. If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 in value. And they say the noise causes cancer. You tell me that one, okay . Do Wind Turbines cause cancer . I dont have an answer on that. I dont have an answer. I guess the president has said it and repeatedly said it last night. I dont have an answer. What do we say to American Families that the president said that Wind Turbines cause cancer . I dont have an answer on that. If i get a readout, im happy to update you on that. He makes you look so stupid, he makes you look so stupid, he shouldnt do it. We have mike barnicle, elise jordan, former u. S. Senator and now msnbc political analyst Claire Mccaskill. Thank god youre here. We have so much 2020 news to talk about. And kasie hunt is here. Well get to the formal move to get the president s tax returns in just a moment. We have a moment of the ways and Means Committee. Former texas congressman and 2020 president ial candidate beto orourkes cam ppaign has announced it raised 9. 4 million during the First Quarter of the year. They said the average donation was 43 and came from 218,000 contributions. Orourke raised more than 520,000 a day since his Campaign Announcement on march 14th. The fundraising haul places him behind senators Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris for total dollars raised, but at the top of the leaderboard for fastest Dollars Per Day rate. Thats pretty impressive. Fox news announced plans to hold a town hall with Bernie Sanders this month. Its scheduled to take place on apr april 15th in bethlehem, pennsylvania. Last month the Democratic National committee barred fox news from hosting any democratic primary debates, citing its, quote, inappropriate relationship with the trump administration. South bend indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg raised 7 million and invited reporters to a rally in his hometown on sunday, april 14th, when it appears he will formallyin t ienter the race. Yesterday thousands turned out to see buttigieg at Northeastern University in boston. A lot of people are following him. Democratic senator Michael Bennett of colorado said he was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer but bennett said he still plans to run for president after his treatment. Good for him. He says hes undergo surgery in colorado during the senate recess. And democratic congressman tim ryan of ohio is expected to announce a president ial campaign this week. That is what several forces who have been informed of ryans plans tell Buzzfeed News noting hes planning a rally on saturday in youngstown, ohio. A spokesperson for ryan who visited as recent lip as this past weekend did not return call seeking comment. Claire mccaskill, who stands out to you out of all that news . I think the amount of money that beto raised in 18 dates is phenomenal. Him declared many staff would go, oh, no, you got i think hes very confident about his base. And i think that low dollar fundraising, ive said frtd beginning thats going to be one of the biggest because this is going to get very expensive. When you try to put people on the field. People underestimate the cost of a Field Program. A Field Program depends on a lot of volunteers, but it also depends on a lot of staff to make sure they go to the right homes at the right time. Youre youre going to have to have a ground game. So i do think the fundraising numbers are and i think buttigieg buttigieg. I had one of my children say they sent him 3. I went what . Ive heard a lot of that. Shes a student and she, mom, i sent him 3. I thought, well, thats something to go from nobody knowing who you are and i was on the university of shug cam bus. All the so theres some buzz around that guy. You have been surprised, claire, at the apparent lack of ability of Elizabeth Warren to raise money . Its interesting. She is in bernies lane. Weve known that from day one. Shes known it from day one. And thats the thing. Everybody has a lane here and whoever can really grow from one lane to more lanes, whether its joe biden in the middle or whether its Bernie Sanders and elizabeth much further to the left, whoever can appeal across these lanes is going to be the inspirational candidate thats going to end up getting this nomination. Theres so many. Theres possibly more coming. Im hearing rumblings about terry mcall riff, i think were going to end up with 25 candidat candidates. Kasie hunt, who are you rochestering ive been paying attention to its about twice as much money in about half as much time. If it were any other candidate, we would be treating he won new hampshi hampshire. The traditional metrics by which we measure candidates all apply to Bernie Sanders and yet he is in many times not covered, the way way as i mean, they have a big chip on their shoulder about this because they feel they were really treated that way in 2016. I think it would be a huge mistake to overlook what he accomplished then in the context of what were looking at now, especially when we watched donald trump win from outside of his party apparatus, by inspiring people in new and different ways. If Bernie Sanders consistently gets the kind of crowds i saw him get in 2016, think its a huge mistake to underestimate that. I agree. Bernie sanders has been viewed as a spoiler because of the role he played in 2016. But as you look at the field and you look at the party, its drifted farther toward his view of the world than it has the other way. Couldnt you call him the frontrunner and the favorite in this i first of all, hes my colleague for 12 years canned i know him well. And it is hard for i think those of us who felt like at the end he didnt help enough knit it back together. For sure. And i just want to make sure that whoever this nominee is, we sh some of this snipings going on behind the scene. Were already quietly behind the scenes to hurt another candidate. But if bernies not the nominee,ies got to be a better team player than he was. What frankly, it would be difficult for any democrat to win in my state. Donald trump beat me in november, no doubt about it. Who is a democrat you think could actually win in places like move . I think there we just dont know. After the debates in june so were going o get to the joe biden can asking for six years of President Trumps personal and business tax returns. Richard neal made the request in a twopage bert at any time seeking details about trumps ernl including whether they are now or have ever been under ut it. Of great to have you back on the show. Thank, mike why a are there ways the president can get away from thishe made a comment yesterday about his willingness to turchs in we expect him to follow those laws. Of snp if there as a plek policy or Public Interest. We are examining the extent to which the irs audits and enforces tax law on a president. That is an important question. We need to lk at these returns, the chairman does, in order to make a determination of that fact. For example, we dont know if the president actually is or has ever been under audit. Its important that we understand that. Its been a practice of the irs to audit the president of the United States. But thats not a legal requirement. Were examining whether there should be legislative eng. I noticed in the chairmans statement yesterday that he tucked about there bont seem to be a general expectation that this is on whether what steps are you preparing to well, first of all, the chairman was very deliberate in this process and did make sure we will be prepared to take whatever legal steps are necessary. We support an oath to uphold the constitution, to do the job a boo and the we intend to sao the law po. In we will use any tool available to us to paand he said it made by donald trump to be credible. I find from and try to only Pay Attention to ma noop and the fact that he says hes under audit is not really a relevant f fom. And why do you believe its so relevant to see the president s tax returns . Two reasons. One is to see whether or not the president is subjected to the law of the United States. But 9 other is. And so while our specific purposes is limited really to policy question, there is a real Public Interest inins the people of the United States have a right to know whether the president s personal, financial interest impact his see you again to and. That the claims that members of the special counsels team feel the public has been pmt the New York Times reporting that some actual snm which government officials and others familiar say theyre more damaging for President Trump than indicated. While barr says he needs time to make redactions, the dp and some team members believe that barr government f the Justice Department determined that the summaries con. And information related to current federal investigations that must remain confidential. While the report said it was not clear what findings the counsels investigators viewed as troubling for the president , laerss letter says on the obstruction of the report sets out evidence on pote side the question. Joyce advance, because well wait until it comes taught what question does this report raise in your mind . The most important question that i have reading this piece and the piece in the Washington Post together is that the information now is that muellers team very deliberately crafted summaries of their work and believed that they crafted those summaries in a form that was readily releasable, with the minimum amount of redak shun from the attorney general. Thats not what weve heard from the attorney general. Hes taking a lot of time to do the release. The question is why is there that discrepancy between the two views and why cant the American People hear the words of special counsels team . Does that make sense to you, claire . Its insult being to the attorneys, the prosecutors, the they know exactly what the rules are on public release. So if they did a summary, ill guarantee you they were careful in. And all barr has to do is go to court and if because its in the Public Interest. And sfrpt and so this is all about barr protecting the president at this point in a way thats wildly inappropriate, especially faux yoo knee be design to be roob least to the public. Joyce vance, isnt william bar americas attorney . What would he have to gain by misleading the American People . It seems very questionable for an attorney general to mislead the American People knowing that all of this is going to come out. So weve seen sppt and sp, but the the underlying document, the fub interviews. Joyoy. Kenny stacy. From and coming up, on morning joe. Up, on morning joe. What if other kinds of plants captured it too . If these industrial plants had technology that captured carbon like trees we could help lower emissions. Carbon capture is Important Technology and experts agree. Thats why were working on ways to improve it. So plants. Can be a little more. Like plants. At to cover the essentialsyou have in retirement, as well as all the things you want to do. 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Its a way to and ive found that scores if not nufrs of could come up for me that may help with the tragedy theyre going through. So its just who kwm shaking hands, handsin the world social norms have begun o change, theyve shifted and the boundaries are protecting certainly space have been reset and i spr my responsibility and ill meet it. But ill uls. In but i will be more mindful and nrchlt my whole life the idea that i cant adjust to its just not there. I will. I will. Claire mccaskill, what do you think . Well, i understand why this has happened. And i understand how its happened. I those of us who know joe biden and have known him for a long time, its a little hard because this is joe. Hes a really nice guy. He never is one of those to shake your hand and look to the next person, which is a norm in politics. He never looks past you to the next person. He wants to look inside of you and really hear you. And he used physical contact to do that with men and women. Joe biden is no predator. This is not sexual. Nope. This is who he is. So i get that its made some people uncomfortable and i respect that. If youve got a real thing about your personal boundary space, i understand that and i hear that and i think joe biden has heard it. But lets move on now. Lets move on and hes going to try to change and really be respectful of peoples personal space. And i think its good that hes done that. But he never did this from a bad place, he always did this from a good space and thats why its hard for those of us who know that. Claire, thank you for providing that joe biden is a human being. Thats who he is and has always been. A feeding frenzy occurs and we sometimes misplace our priorities as an industry, when in fact for two weeks the reauthorization of the violence against womens act has been held up from being reauthorized by pressure from the National Rifle association. That was a piece of legislation that was written about 25 years ago with with the great assistance of then the senate in the 90s. I didnt have the resources to do victim advocates. The only reason we were able to get that unit started and it began a whole new chapter of going after Domestic Violence in the area. Joe biden was at the center of that he needs pivot and i am very surprised that joe biden and bidens team did not have a plan for when the story came out. This has been somewhat of an open secret in washington, biden being a little handsy in the photo lines. And they could have been prepared with something that was mr where youve wind of dp. But there are ways he could absolve himself if where harassment victims i doubt that joe biden has ever paid out any money, but his office could be putting forward examples. I dont know. In this clim at i feel like a lot of men have in where to go when this happens. What seems unfair about this is, again, were not talking about sex, were not talking about arms. Lyden said ill uls me that government and life is about connection. This is man who lost his son to brain scans are claire, you know a thing or two and if we can go on National Television and talk about joe biden putting his hands on your back . Us that nab and he probably would have said im sorry, i was just trying to be nice. It probably could been rid yb right there. We have toe decide what we get upset about and whats a national story. I think if the if hes saying he gets it, fine. I if i gives me a beg hug. Im good. The questions would be ludicrous f bottom line he is a genuinely affectionate human being. Claire nailed it. He is a no contact. and body frchl some of these in but really lets talk about stuff like how were going to help women Going Forward in this country. Thank you. Lets Start Talking about the stuff that are really going to matter in this by the way, we got a guy in the oval office who changes wives like he changes shirts. If donald trump was behaving this way, we would still be talk about it and debating, i mean, we need to debate what hes done in a way egregious, horrible form. I need to take control of this situation. Sorry. See said shoo see said shoo can Stacey Abrams joins us on set next on morning joe. On set next on morning joe. Ideliu have a clear plan to cover the essentials in retirement, as well as all the things you want to do. Because when youre ready for what comes next, the only direction is forward. Car vending machines and buying a car 100 online. Vented now weve created a brand new way for you to sell your car. Whether its a year old or a few years old, we want to buy your car. 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Com the road is long, and were going to get tired a lot. Im 45 years old. I thought i was doing something. But i just buried my grandmother, 92. She lived through the days when she couldnt cast a vote. She lived to see her daughter become the first affirmative action woman in American History to be nominated to be governor. But she did not live to see me take an oath of office. Now, i dont know which oath is coming up next run stacy, run run, stacy run run, stacy, run what did you say when they said run, stacy, run i said stop talking, i couldnt finish my sentence. Us ththats an audience respg to Stacey Abrams when she said she didnt know what oath was coming up next, as she weighs a bid for the u. S. Senate, the white house or maybe again for governor. And her new book lead from the outside, how to make your future and real change. Are you considering a run for the white house . You should jump in. I i am thinking about it, i really am. The timing for me is first deciding about the senate. I think you cannot run for an office unless you know thats the job you want to do. I dont think you use an office as a stepping zone. So the first question is is the senate right for me and if its not right for me, then what else . Thats a quick time frame, isnt it . I intended to do it in march but because of my book tour, i had to make it fast. I dont think you have to make a decision about president before the fall. Tim ryan will get in the race. We expect the number will cross 20. Does the size of the field, do you view that as a detriment to you or an advantage . I think its a future rahal. You have to remember in 92, we had 19 people. For me the issue as someone who ran and do you have a credible platform that can rez mate . Its important that people are having these conversations now but im not going to make a decision on other peoples deadlines. I think thats the drop date because the average voter isnt paying attention until labor y day. In the book, which i loved and found inspiring, you talk about your panes. But it doesnt seem like you would be prone to making a rash decision about your political future so to suggest it im going to run if i havent figured out how to win makes no sense. I dont think running is a vanity exercise. If youre going to run, you about but for me the responsible duty is to first decide if right job because i think is the most immediate question and the senators have done app amazing job talking to me about how important this role is. Let me weigh in on that. I think youve got a really hard decision. I think youre an amazing leader and i am so proud of who you are and what youve accomplished. Say that first. But the difference between leadership in the United States senate between david purdue and Stacey Abrams is night and day. I mean, he is a sycophant for donald trump. He is always things trump. Hes not even thoughtful about it. And i really do think that it will be re hard for us to what we want to do in this country along so i want you to do whatever your ambition and your planning leads you. I use the word ambition because im troud of your ambition. And thats the prsh and i was having Chuck Schumer calling me and saying its about america. And we took the senate that year. And we took the senate by three narrow races, in virginia, montana and missouri. And that was in 2006. I think we could repeat that in 2020, but maybe not without you. I would say number one, leader schumer has been nothing but gracious. Hes been very tense and intentional and i appreciate the input. My job is to make sure its the right time and that this is the right job that i need to hold. I had a lotus one, two, three spreadsheet when i was in college. Threw go. Loch the planning. And i share your disappointment about david purdue. Lead from the outside, tell us about it. This began as a howto guide. I was getting questions from students and womens groups and communities, i was the first i was giving a series of speeches and i was talking to people and ei did not think that i had had the so what i tried to do was a hybrid, tell my story but use it as an exercise in how do you do things better, how do you understand the mistakes that you made . The first question is about if you cant dream about what you want and plan for it, it will never come to fruition. Stick with us. We is kazy hunt and yafz of but instead focus that energy of the fullest expression of the task at hand and enjoy both the pride that brings and the product of that pride, which is fair and equal compensation for every woman. That is actress Michelle Williams standing with House Democrats this week to push for the paycheck fairness act. The bill, which passed the house last week, would make it easier to take legal action over pay discrimination. The legislation has momentum but still faces an uphill battle in the senate. Weve been talking about this issue for a long time. And in honor of equal pay day this week, were launching all kinds of new content at know your value. Com. That includes the tools you need to by signing up. We have much more with Stacey Abrams when morning joe comes right back. N morning joe come right back some things are out of your control. Like bedhead. Hmmmm. Rubadub ducky. And then. Theres national car rental. At national, im in total control. I can just skip the counter and choose any car in the aisle i like. So i can rent fast without getting a hair out of place. Heeeeey. Hey ah, control. vo go national. Go like a pro. Its all about the big picture. With miguel, our certified financial planner™ professional, we looked at business insurance, our mortgage, even our plans to adopt. Its not about this fund or that fund its about us. Welcome to our complete freedom plan. Its all possible with a cfp professional. Find your certified financial planner™ professional at letsmakeaplan. Org. High protein. Low sugar. Tastes great high protein. Low sugar. So good high protein. Low sugar. Mmmm, birthday cake pure protein. The best combination for every fitness routine. Grab those command picture hanging strips and lets make it work theyre tool free and they hold strong. Or change your mind damage free. Like a pro. Command. Do. No harm. Were back now with former democratic georgia gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams. Shes the author of lead from the outside, how to build your future and make real change. Weve got for Stacey Abrams. Good morning. I saw that you said recently that i believe identity politics are the politics that win and that makes sense to me in the context of a democratic primary but i wonder how you apply that against donald trump in those mid western states that he lost in 2016. Identity matter to everyone. Theres a specific identity we attribute to voters in the midwest and my argument is you cant exclude one group to focus on another. We have to have an inclusive politics that sees not only the values of people, but actually their votes as valuable. And that means you cannot ignore those who face barriers to their point of entry as voters and you cant ignore the issues faced by those who have marginalized identities because youre afraid that youre going to lose the normal mid western voter. What we were able to prove in georgia is you can Center Communities of color, and pick up white voters which i what i did. I increased the white vote share in democrats for the first time in a generation because i not only acknowledged the needs of communities of color, i also acknowledged the needs of white voters. I acknowledged the fact that our Water Infrastructure is woefully inadequate and we had to do something about that. We have to be able to walk and chew gum and snap our fingers at the same time and we have to trust that voters dont care about someone else having things. They care about us having what they need and identity politics simply means i see you. I see the barriers to your succeed, the needs and opportunities that can be made available and we have to have candidates that can speak authentically and with authenticity to all of these needs at the same time. I think voters are smart enough to trust that you can see them and not ignore everyone else. Hey, stacey, good to talk to you today. I know that you met with the former Vice President joe biden. Obviously you know some of the accusations that have been coming out about his making women feel uncomfortable. Youve also seen the response that they put up on twitter. Yesterday the Vice President s response on twitter. What do you make of it in his response. I am friends with lucy flores and i appreciate her bringing her story forward. I also have deep respect for Vice President joe biden. We cannot have perfection as a litmus test. The responsibility of leaders is to not be perfect but to be accountable to say ive made a mistake, i understand it and heres what im going to do to reform as i move forward and i think we see joe biden doing that. I think the Vice President has acknowledged the discomfort that hes caused. Hes created context to why that is his behavior and he has affirmed that he will do Something Different Going Forward. Were going to find out something about everybody running for office and we have to as a people be ready to forgive but forgiveness does not mean you accept it unless what you see is accountability and an attempt at reformation so that more people can feel included and belief that their needs will be met. Weve seen the reports over the last several weeks that you and Vice President biden has talked about a joint ticket. Are those reports accurate . Not at all. You havent had any conversations with joe biden with that . I havent had conversations with me running for senate or dogcatcher. s only one elected dogcatcher in america anymore, but nerd knowledge. But he never said to you, stacey, id love to have you join me on the ticket. He did not t. We did not talk about his primary stat ji and most of the speculation comes about because of well wishers who got excited about seeing us together and i appreciate their enthusiasm. I think it it is deeply problematic that they are making things up but i do not believe you run for second place and i do not intend to enter a president ial race as a primary candidate for Vice President. If i enter the race for president i will enter the race for president , but once we have a nominee, i am open to having conversations should i not be someone whos running i am open to conversations with anyone. That speculation really annoyed me quite frankly because you didnt see any speculation that beto should be bidens Vice President and it just seemed like and not even coming from bidens camp, whoever it was that was the unnamed sourcing but in your book you talk about the challenges that women specifically face in politics and can you just kind of discuss that in the context of how you would approach a 2020 bid or a 2020 senate run . I think first of all, we have to acknowledge any constraints that people see when they see us. Im a black woman with natural hair and a sturdy build and there are people who discount my capacity for leadership based on purely those issues. We have to acknowledge that. You cant ignore how people behave. The issue is what do you do with that information . I talk about it. I dont pretend you cant see me, but i also make certain that you understand that im incredibly smart, im very capable and my responsibility is to then layer on what you see, make sure you know who i am. But the other problem and i think to your point, the larger responsibility of every woman running for office is we have to push back against those stereo type who is diminish who we are or that animate and amplify a lesser quality in a man. We are more than capable. I jokingly say sometimes men can look in the mirror and have a good hair day and become president. Women have to have a phd and push to become president. But what i want folks to understand is that change is different or difference is not there. There are always going to be barriers. You can either circumvent them, you can hack them or destroy them and so the book is designed to give you tips on how to do all three. Stacey abrams, stay in the game, please. Its great to have you on the show. Come back. And still ahead, democrats make moves in hopes of finally getting Donald Trumps tax returns. Plus, the big front page story on this mornings New York Times. Members of Robert Muellers team believes the special counsels findings were more damaging for the president than the attorney genre veeld. Well talk about it all next on morning joe. All next on morning joe. Ke my bike, and m. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. You get the freedom of what a 7day return policy. This isnt some dealership test drive around the block. Its better. This is seven days to put your carvana car to the test and see if it fits your life. Load it up with a weeks worth of groceries. Take the kiddos out for ice cream. Check that it has enough wiggle room in your garage. You get the time to make sure you love it. And on the 6th day, well reach out and make sure everythings amazing. If so. Excellent. If not, swap it out for another or return it for a refund. Its that simple. Because at carvana, your car happiness is what makes us happy. Now kayak and opentable let you earn travel rewards every time you dine. With just one reservation on opentable, you can start saving money on hotels with kayak. Get started at kayak. Com diningrewards. This and even this. Hark, i deep clean messes like this. But i dont have to clean this, because the selfcleaning brush roll removes hair, while i clean. [announcer] shark, the vacuum that deep cleans, now cleans itself. Will you release ten years of your tax returns as you know Elizabeth Warren decided to do that . Yes. Will you release any of the tax returns for the public to scrutinize . Why havent you done that so far. The delay is not it will our tax returns will bore you to death. Whats the period of time . Before the voting begins. This is not like a normal tax return. Nothing special about it. My wife does most of it and we will get that stuff out. We ore working on it right now and at the appropriate time youll be very satisfied. So when will we be able to see your tax returns . Sooner than later. What does that mean . Soon. That was donald trump in 2016 and Bernie Sanders in february. Neither president ial candidate has released his tax returns in the runup to 2020. Now House Democrats are making a formal push to see the president s numbers. Will they put pressure on bernie as well . Plus, new reporting this morning on the Mueller Probe from the New York Times. Democrats are not satisfied with William Barrs summary and neither apparently are members of the special counsels team. Why they feel the a. G. Undersold the reports damage to President Trump. Well bring in one of the reporters behind that story. Well also speak to the reporters from the miami herald as that paper digs into a federal investigation into possible chinese spying operations targeting the president at his florida golf club. Were also following the latest developments with joe biden. Former Vice President biden promising to be more respectful of personal space as other women come forward saying he made them uncomfortable. So a lot to get to on this thursday, april 4th. Welcome to morning joe. Joe is off for one more day. Hell be back tomorrow. We have mike barnicle, contributor to Time Magazine and msnbc political analyst, elise jordan back with us this morning. The president of the council on Foreign Relations and author of the book a world in disarray rei Richard Haass is with us and senior National Security analyst for nbc news and msnbc, juan zarate is with us. And jake sherman, hes an nbc political contributor. We begin this morning with new claims that members of the special counsels team feel the public was misinformed by attorney general William Barrs letter about their report. The New York Times reports that some of muellers investigators have told associates that barr failed to adequately portray their findings, which government officials and others familiar with their frustrations say were more damaging for President Trump than indicated. While barr says he needs time to make redactions, the times reports that the special counsels investigators had already written multiple summaries of the report. And some team members believe that barr should have included more of their material in his fourpage letter. But government Officials Say the Justice Department determined that the summaries contained sensitive information, like classified material, secret grand jury testimony and information related to current federal investigations that must remain confidential. While the report says that it was not clear what the findings that special counsels investigators viewed as troubling for the president , barrs letter says that on the obstruction of justice matter, quote, the report says out evidence on both sides of the question. And President Trumps legal team responded to the New York Times piece late last night. Saying quote, if there is a significant difference mueller would have corrected it. This is from disgruntled members. Mueller had people who leaked as much as comey. How many leaks proved to be false . Most. It cant obscure the conclusion of no case for collusion or obstruction says rudy giuliani. The paper reports that attorney general barrs team has its own frustrations with mueller. According to two government officials barr and other Justice Department officials believe the special counsels investigators fell short of their task by declining to decide whether President Trump illegally obstructed the inquiry, leaving barr to make a decision. But as nbc news reported, mueller gave barr and the doj three weeks notice that he would not make a conclusion on obstruction. Officials familiar with the attorney generals thinking tells the times that barr and his aides limited the details that they revealed because they were worried about wading into political territory. Lets bring in one of the reporters who broke this story. Michael schmidt joining us by phone this morning. Let me ask you to dig in on the question a lot of people are asking about what exactly these members of the special counsels team who spoke to you are upset about. Where do they see the conflict with what bill barr put out and what they put into their report. Theres an issue here with the narrative. The problems that the members of the special counsels team have are with the fact that barr was able to come out essentially clear the president , but not give the details. The sort of the fruits of the investigation, the fuller picture of what was found. They believe there is some troubling conduct there and that it needs to be looked at and the public should know about it, but in the way that barr did that, he essentially cleared the president and gave no other information, and this has allowed in the eyes of some for the narrative to be set that the president did nothing wrong. Now, the president himself has exacerbated this by going out and saying that he was completely exonerated by the Mueller Report. That is not what barr said the Mueller Report does. The Mueller Report does not exonerate or condemn the president. Seems like it more provides a bunch of facts and the special counsels team looks at what the president says and says he is taking it out of context and twisting their work and that bothers them. Do the people that you spoke to contest the conclusion as prechblt presented by the attorney general that there was no collusion. Do the sources you spoke to out of the special counsels office dispute that headline . The sense is less on the issue of collusion than it is on obstruction. Barr was pretty definitive in his letter about what mueller found on collusion. Essentially saying theres no case to be made that the campaign conspired with the russians. When it comes back to is the issue of obstruction and the picture that the report paints of actions the president took in office to interfere with the investigation. That even barr acknowledges in his letter is something that mueller couldnt make a decision on and sort of lays out reasons for and against why some of the president s actions are so problematic. And the folks that are frustrated here see the president come out and say that he was completely exonerated on this issue. They know that that is not accurate, and they want the contents of the report to be out there. The problem is that when will that happen. When will the report be out and when will people be able to decide . The problem at the heart of this issue is how do you deal with the president s conduct. The Justice Department is there to decide whether people broke the law or not. Theyve decided that the president has not broken the law. The attorney general has made that determination. So what information should be released to the public . In the case of hillary clinton, a lot of people criticized jim comey for holding his press conference and laying out what the fbi found, but in this case, it looks like the Justice Department is going to release a lot of what they did find in the investigation. So its a very difficult balancing act when you have a high profile investigation in which the public really wants to know what was found out, but there may not have been criminalalty. So as you know well, michael, the attorney generals four page letter made clear that the Mueller Report does not fully exonerate the president. On the question of obstruction though, the attorney generals interpretation from bob mueller was that he couldnt determine one way or another whether there was obstruction. Are you saying your sources say that yes, they do have evidence that the president of the United States obstructed justice . Im not sure how clean and clear cut the special counsel is on their determination of whether the president broke the law. What our sense is is that there is a lot of information and fact that they have find on this issue. They were unable to make a determination and they wanted for that information to be passed to the attorney general to make the call or to someone else, but they couldnt come to it. They did a lot of work on that issue. They spoke to a lot of white house officials. They really delved into the actions the president took in office. What we dont know is why they didnt come to fruition. Why was it that they couldnt decide whether the president broke the law and we wont have clarity on that until we see the report. So would it be accurate to say that part of the issue here with this mornings New York Times story centers around the fact that you lad Senate Investigators investigating things for two years. They did enormous amounts of work and reviews hundreds of witnesses. And within the report they are upset because of barrs reference sort of lightly referencing the obstruction component when in fact the Building Blocks of the obstruction investigation, we wont know as you pointed out till we read it but bob muellers career is such that he would never issue a report leaving large questions like that unanswered. He might give direction, but wouldnt leave the questions unanswered and that is the source of their anger over the attorney generals behavior. I think their frustration is with the fact that barr comes out and clears the president but doesnt give the larger sense of what they found. Doesnt provide the additional sort of fruits of the investigation that they thought were problematic. They didnt come to a determination on whether the president broke the law for some reason, and they obviously want some of these facts to be seen in a different light either by the public or by congress. Maybe and im not sure of this, maybe they think that the conduct was such that it was problematic that congress should look at it and congress may want to look at for impeachment but may not be criminal and maybe that is why they want it out there. Whatever it is, theres a rub here. Theres a frustration here in how the end of this investigation was conducted. Did you pick up that is clear. Did you pick up anything in your reporting that would indicate that some of the investigators are upset that they knew that bob mueller would not indict the president because supposedly he does not want to rule the president cannot be indicted and he didnt want to tie the thing up for another year, year and a half in court. Im not sure they got that far and when barr puts out his letter, the determination on the fourpage thing he said they had not taken into consideration the question of whether the president could be indicted on the criminal question on what they decided essentially saying i dont think they got that far. I dont think there was enough of a case to have made that determination. Thats in barrs eyes. Remember, barr has to make the determination on whether the president broke the law. Mueller had not done that. Thank you. Well be reading your reporting in the New York Times. And still ahead on morning joe, just weeks ago the house unanimously called for the full Mueller Report to be made public. Now some republicans seem to be thinking twice about that. Well talk about the latest from capitol hill straight ahead but first lets go to bill karins with a check on the forecast. Good morning to you. Concerned growing in louisiana. Reports of up to 5 inches of rain. Well have to watch out on interstate 10 and see if we have any flash flooding today. Also pouring in arkansas. Heres the thing. Later this afternoon, additional storms are going to form. We have about 70 Million People at risk of severe weather. Maybe an isolated tornado or two. Large hail and damaging winds possible. So heres how its all going to play out. Also raining in areas of missouri too. This mess will track all the way through the southeast during the day today and entering into alabama by the time we get to 6 00 p. M. , 7 00 p. M. These are right along i10. Watch out panama city, pensacola and tall hahassee. Travel delays mostly at the airports and by 8 00 p. M. It arrives in new york city. Philadelphia around 6 00 p. M. And its going to be a cold rain. Temperatures only in the 40s. One of those ugly april days. So todays forecast, much of the east coast looks good. Thunderstorms in south florida. You can see those showers and storms in the middle of the country. Tomorrow, if you have travel plans especially on the east coast we could have some delays and for all our friends on the west coast, some Stormy Weather coming for you too. Rainy on your friday San Francisco all the way through the pacific northwest. Weve had a pretty quiet period as of late and thankfully were not going to see any tornado outbreaks. New york city, a nice day today after that warm wind yesterday. Should be enjoyable. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Make fitness routine with pure protein. High protein. Low sugar. Tastes great high protein. Low sugar. So good high protein. Low sugar. Mmmm, birthday cake pure protein. The best combination for every fitness routine. Were all under one roof now. Congratulations. Thank you. How many kids . My two. His three. Along with two dogs and jake, our new parrot. That is quite the family. Quite a lot of colleges to pay for though. A lot of colleges. You get any Financial Advice . Yeah, but im pretty sure its the same plan they sold me before. Well your situations totally changed now. Right, right. How bout a plan that works for 5 kids, 2 dogs and jake over here . That would be great. That would be great. That okay with you, jake . Get a portfolio that works for you now and as your needs change from Td Ameritrade investment management. Cal we saved our money and now, we get to spend it our way. Valerie but we worry if we have enough to last. Cal ellen, our certified financial planner™ professional, helps us manage our cash flow and plan for the unexpected. Valerie her experience and training gave us the courage to go for it. Its our confident forever plan. Cal . And its all possible with a cfp® professional. Find your certified financial planner™ professional at letsmakeaplan. Org. Webut some of us turn outhose dreams. Into action. The bookers. The doers. The hit that confirmation button and lets go ers because bookers know that the Perfect Place to stay. Is right there for the booking. Be a booker at booking. Com the worlds 1 choice for booking accommodations. All of you. How you live, what you love. Thats what inspired us to create americas most advanced internet. Internet that puts you in charge. That protects whats important. It handles everything, and reaches everywhere. This is beyond wifi, this is xfi. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Xfinity, the future of awesome. Welcome back to morning joe. In the last block we discussed the New York Times reporting that some members of bob muellers team feel the attorney general undersold their findings. Meanwhile after the Justice Department missed House Democrats tuesday deadline to hand over the Mueller Report. The House Judiciary Committee authorized nadler to issue a subpoena for the full report and all of the underlying evidence. But nadler says he wants to give attorney general william barr quote, time to change his mind about redacting the report before submitting it to congress. Were going to work with the attorney general and for a short period of time this the hope that he will that he will reveal to us the entire Mueller Report, but if that doesnt work out, then a very short order we will issue the subpoenas. Are you willing to do that as soon as this week to serve the Justice Department . Im going to say very short order. I cant say how many days. You dont want to see the unredacted report . No, i dont need to see the grand jury testimony. I dont have this paranoia that my friends on the left have that the conclusions are really not what they are. You made reference to the Mueller Report. Have you seen it . No, ive seen the principle findings from the attorney general. Bob mueller has provided his findings to the attorney general who has accurately summarized those. These investigations should end. We should move on. What basically were doing here is in my opinion the democrats are asking attorney general barr to violate the law. The attorney general is doing exactly what he said he would be doing, making as much of the report public as possible under federal law and department policy. Whats the rush . Spring break probably. All right. Lets go to jake. Tell me your reporting on this. I just wonder what william barr would have to gain by completely misleading the American People so im just wondering, should his summary be given more benefit of the doubt or does the New York Times reporting subjestsu suggest a real conflict here . Well, the last couple of days, one thing has come up constantly. If barrs letter was so misrepresentative, why werent the mueller people complaining about it and then these two stories drop last night with the mueller people complaining about it so i found that fascinating. A few things to me seem abundantly clear. Democrats are going to, within i would assume, days send the subpoena to the Justice Department for this report. They have already authorized this subpoena and the window of time is going to shrink, but their patience is going to shrink quite quickly. Thats number one. Number two, the issue is not going oi way on capitol hill any time soon. There will be more hand wringing over this and lets zoom out even more. Over the last 24 hours weve seen the ways and Means Committee issue a request for trumps tax returns. Weve seen requests for trumps Financial Information going back decades. We have the Washington Post suggesting that Jared Kushner might have been subject to foreign influence and thats why his clearance was at risk. These have turned into a perilous 24 to 48 hours for the president when it comes to his relationship with capitol hill and the investigations on capitol hill which are just frankly just revving up. So whats the politics of this . You hear republicans there saying weve seen enough of the report. Weve seen the attorney generals version of it. I think trump won first round on this. I think he won the first round. I think that what we are hearing from on background, its source but without unidentified sources and how theyre upset, that is what the mueller investigators feel and they want more information because they know that the first draft of history has been set and its very difficult to walk back that narrative once donald trump has his by his hand picked attorney general been seemingly exonerated even though of course he was not and that was literally the one quote from the Mueller Investigation that was included in the fourpage letter. Very few quotes in the attorney generals and apparently, if the reporting is correct, no reason to question it at this point, but there are summaries that the mueller investigators, they could have used those summaries. They tried to give usable summaries so that the entire report didnt have to be released. Its definitely we would like to see the report, everybody would. I dont know how anyone can make a plausible case against seeing the report. We all want to see the full report and the attorney general says hell release the full report. Its a question of what report do you see . What are the redactions in there and i think there are appropriate redactions. Theres classified material, grand jury testimony, all kinds of things the public doesnt and probably shouldnt see. Was there any kind of conversation . It seems like this wasnt based on michael schmidts reporting about what was going to be the rollout of the findings . And look, to put a little perspective on it, were all kind of flying blind. Were talking about a report that we havent seen. Thats well over 300 pages which was boiled down to maybe two sentence fragments in the attorney generals release. Exactly. This is itss frustrating, its bizarre. On one level we should all hold off if theres no report to look at. On the the other hand the temptation to talk about it is obviously great. I think elises point is the critical point. No matter what comes out, people a lot of people have already reached the conclusion and democrats have to be careful here and others. It doesnt look like theyre sore losers. I think the politics again work in the president s favor. Still ahead at the top of the show, we mentioned donald trump still unreleased tax returns and also those of Bernie Sanders. Well talk about how that issue is impacting the race for president as House Democrats push to get ahold of trumps w2s. Morning joe is back in a moment. Nothing says spring like fresh flowers, so lets promote our spring travel deal on choicehotels. Com like this sneezes earn one free night when you stay just twice this spring. Allergies. Or. Badda book. Badda boom. Book now at choicehotels. Com. Dad, its fine. We have allstate. And with claimrateguard they wont raise your rates just because of a claim. Thats why youre my favorite. I know. Are you in good hands . House democrats have filed a more fall request with the Treasury Department asking for six years of President Trumps business and personal tax returns. Ways and Means Committee chair made the request in a twopage letter sent to the irs commissioner seeking details about trumps personal returns from 2013 through 2018 including whether they are now or have ever been under audit. In a statement chairman kneel writes in part, we have completed the necessary ground work for a request of this magnitude and i am certain we are within our legitimate legislative legal and oversight rights. Meanwhile when asked about releasing his tax information, President Trump told reporters last night that he would not be inclined to do so. Is that all . Thats all. Oh, usually its ten, soy guess theyre giving up. Were under audit despite what people said and were working that out as im always under audit it seems, but ive been under audit for many years because of the numbers are big and i guess when you have a name youre audited. But until such time as im not under audit i would not be inclined to do it. Thank you. First of all, this is the longest audit in the history of audits. We should get him an account at h and r block. They work much quicker but this is the latest chapter in a story called elections have consequences. This is a Campaign Promise that they would get their hands on their tax returns. What are the odds that they are actually produced by the irs . This isnt a bank shot. This is in law. The ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance committee have the unilateral right to obtain any americans tax returns. Theyre not asking for some sort of special treatment. They are asking for the irs to comport with the law. Of course the irs reports to treasury secretary mnuchin who reports to the president of the United States so there are roadblocks they can put up by saying perhaps he is under audit. There are a lot of president s and Vice President s do go under automatic audit so its not that crazy i guess in theory, but this is not this is in statute, this is the law. So again, something thats going to drag out for many months. They could subpoena, they could have Steven Mnuchin on capitol hill to testify about why they are not giving up these records but the chairman of the Senate Finance committee yesterday said we are not going to set this precedent to use someones tax returns as a political cojimov chairman of the ways and Means Committee is well within his rights here. Thank you very much. Coming up on morning joe, a whole bunch of president ial contenders are starting to spend a lot of time in New Hampshire. Plus, Time Magazines new report with the ominous title, how russia has quietly built a network of influence among tyrants and failed states. Were back in just a moment. When you rent from national. Its kind of like playing your own version of best ball. Because here, you can choose any car in the aisle, even if its a better car class than the one you reserved. So no matter what, youre guaranteed to have a perfect drive. [laughter] vo go national. Go like a pro. See what i did there . Cancer, epilepsy, Mental Health, hiv. Patients with serious diseases are being targeted for cuts to their medicare drug coverage. New government restrictions would allow Insurance Companies to come between doctor and patient. And deny access to individualized therapies millions depend on. Call the white house today. Help stop cuts to part d drug coverage that put medicare patients at risk. A cfp professional is trained, knowledgeable, and committed to Financial Planning in your best interest. Find your certified financial planner™ professional at letsmakeaplan. Org. Ifor another 150 years. The fire going find your certified financial planner™ professional to inspire confidence through style. Im working to make connections of a different kind. Im working for beauty that begins with nature. To treat every car like i treat mine. At adp were designing a better way to work, so you can achieve what youre working for. We have to take back the house. We have to. Theres no reason to have lost it. What really lost it and really helped us lose it was health care because we didnt have an alternative. We just said well, lets not talk you cant do that. Youve got to confront it. Well be the party of health care. Republicans should not run away from health care. You cant do it. Youre going to get clobbered. The Republican Party will be the champion of preexisting conditions. Were going to come up with a health care plan, were not going to vote on until after the election. Well all promise its going to be our first vote because we blew it the last time. Man, i was fed a bill of goods, i want to tell you, some of you im still a little bit angry. Youre going to win your elections because of health care. Thats some reflections on 2018 telling republicans and donors that democrats have the issue of health care right now and quote, we have to take that away from them. Joining us now a member of both the Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees, weve got a lot to cover. Todays nato anniversary, the 2020 field and your old friend Claire Mccaskill. Shell want to catch up with you. I miss claire every day. Shes here with us now. Let me ask you about health care and the proposal youve laid out on preexisting conditions. What is the objective here and what are you fighting against . Well, right now President Trump and the Justice Department are in court in texas with that lawsuit trying to overturn health care for everybody in this country. Anybody who was enrolled in the obamacare, the oi fowaaffordabl if President Trump has his way they will lose Health Insurance. Those with preexisting conditions will be able to be charged more or denied access to Health Insurance because of those illnesses, people who who have been on their parents Health Insurance up to age 26, young people, they will lose that opportunity. Those essential benefits that mean that coverage is there for Substance Use disorders and Mental Health will be gone. Women will be able to be charged more. A pregnancy will be considered a preexisting condition, so the president is not being honest with the American People. So what is your proposal, senator . How do you stop that if its in the courts right now. On the legislative side, what can you do . I think we need to make as much noise as possible to make sure the American People understand whats going on. The reason that congress didnt repeal the Health Care Law two years ago is because the American Public stood up and said, we want access to health care. We want to be able to get Health Insurance. We want the Affordable Care act to continue. People need to know whats going on and im hopeful that at some point the republicans in congress are going to come and join us and try and increase access to health care coverage, try and help Work Together to fix whats not working as well as it should about our Health Care Law. Youre nodding your head. First of all, its great fun to talk to you, jeanne and i promise you i wont ask you a tough question this time. Okay. You know, have you guys thought about carving out something very simple that makes it difficult for Mitch Mcconnell on preexisting sf you know, the biggest lie thats being told by the president and thats a hard determination, because he tells a lot of lies, the biggest lie is that theyre all ability protecting preexisting conditions. We know thats not true. We know they have no plan that protects preexisting conditions. We know how important that is to america. Have you guys thought about trying to come over from the house a very narrow bill that will address just that issue that puts them on the line and try to negotiate a forced vote through mcconnell on Something Like that . Well, i think thats a great idea, claire. I know there are a number of bills that have been introduced. I have several myself to try and address access and affordability. Im not aware of any narrowly defined bill around preexisting conditions so i think we should talk about that and see if we cant make that a possibility. Seems like to me thats the easiest convincing point we have on this issue that really exposes their lies. Now, maybe they vote for it knowing that that they need to protect themselves politically, but at least it gives us a chance to expose how phony they are, about having a plan for america. Well, thats right. Thats what this resolution is designed to try and do. All 47 democrats are on it. But im sure that Mitch Mcconnell is not going to be willing to bring it to the floor for a vote. Senator, your guest to the nato secretary generals joint address to congress yesterday was roya the first female ambassador from afghanistan to the United States. Heres what secretary general told the House Chamber yesterday. Nato has created a conditions for social and economic progress. Bringing education and human rights to women and girls. Its great to have a Global Attitude toward equal pay and womens rights but also the importance of nato, another thing he said is its just its good to have friends. Something that it appears this president wants anything but. Well, thats right. You know, i think secretary general also reminded us that the only time nato has invoked article v, the mutual defense clause was after the United States was attacked on september 11th and we went into afghanistan to try and make sure that terrorists can no longer operate from that country. And i think thats important to remind americans and one of my interests in having the ambassador be my guest yesterday was because i think its important for us to let people know about the article v defense and thats why nato came to the defense of the United States, but its also important to remind everyone that right now there are peace negotiations going on between the taliban and the United States and that the government of afghanistan is not part of those negotiations. And that women at this point are not at the table for those negotiations. And given whats at stake for afghanistan, for the women of afghanistan, its very important that they are part of those discussions. Lets bring in Washington Bureau chief for Time Magazine. He edited the magazines new piece entitled putins empire of autocrats. This weeks International Cover story, the piece describes how russia has quietly built a network of influence among tyrants and failed states quote, putins placing bets around the globe the way a gambler lays chips on a felt table. And with the help and support of donald trump i would say. Well, its interesting. Sort of ties in with your discussion about the Mueller Report. Its worth remembering that one thing that we learned from barrs letter was that that report is titled the investigation into russias operation against the 2016 president shl election and what were learning now is that since that operation, russia has expanded its global dirty tricks campaign, and is taking it to a number of third world countries and forming alliances with dictators and rogue states in a way thats really bringing it back on to the world stage into its traditional role that it had under the soviets and indeed under the czars. Elise. One of the examples in the story i found just to be striking in that it really establishes putins bad intentions around the world and thats with omar in sudan. He instead is entertaining him in his personal residence and can you talk a little bit about putins bad intentions in sudan . So one of the most striking pieces of reporting in this article by simon schuster, our berlin correspondent and long time expert in russia, is hes obtained documents showing that as part of this global campaign, russia offered a whole suite of services to albashir who has been indicted for crimes against humanity and putin in contrast with the west of the western world of much of the leadership of the United Nations has embraced bashir, offered this suite of Services Including weve found from our reporting on the ground some mercenary support in the suppression of a an uprising in sudan and a number of other things. In exchange what putin is getting is influence in africa at a time when relative to the United States and china, russia is relatively weak and also some commercial interests, mining and other things in sudan, so it really is a very cold eyed almost amoral approach to russias interest abroad. Back to health care, your state like many other states has been afflicted by the Opioid Crisis, manchester, New Hampshire, its staggering what it does to Public Services in those communities. Under the present health care legislation, is enough being done to combat the Opioid Crisis and what would you propose to do if it if not enough is being done . Well, i think we can always do more, given the high overdose death rate, the number of people who have died from Substance Use disorders in New Hampshire and throughout the country in recent years. But what we absolutely need to do is to continue the resources, the federal dollars that weve approved on a bipartisan basis to go to New Hampshire and other states and particularly keep that set aside the additional dollars that are there for the states that are hardest hit. As you point out, this epidemic has impacted families in so many different ways. Its affected the treatment providers, its affected First Responders and weve got to do Everything Possible to ensure that they have what they need in order to address this epidemic. You know, we had we had a hearing before the appropriateuatioappropriat Appropriations Committee on health and we had the heads of a number of programs throughout the country responding to the Opioid Epidemic and i asked them what happens if the federal dollars end, and what i heard from the New Hampshire person who was there was that she was going to go back to bake sales, but some of the other folks who were there were more direct. They said people will die. So its absolutely that we continue the funding that states and communities are counting on. Senator shaheen, thank you so much for being on the show. Time magazines massimo calabresi, thank you as well. Up next, well bring somebody in the democratic field who you might not know about. And we got great news about the icf. Will you be at the cutting room . Out of town. What, are you kidding me . Ill send my daughter. Ill sit with her. So joe and his band will be playing a nearly sold out show in less than between weeks at the cutting room. And last week, he released a new song called austin, texas. And now filter the worlds leading third Party Playlist service has added the song to a few of their playlists. If yall want to hear augustin, texas, head to filter or listen to it on spotify. Morning joe is back in a moment. This simple banana peel represents a bold idea a way to create energy from household trash. It not only saves about 80 in carbon emissions. 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Stepbystep options trading support from Td Ameritrade Maryann Williamson is a texa texasborn self help author and motivational speaker and New York Times best selling author is hitting the campaign trail joining the crowded 2020 president ial field. And she joins us now. Great to have you on board. What is the message of your campaign . The message of my campaign is that the United States is deviated. We have deviated from our moral center, our Democratic Values and our deep human values. We have an Economic System and too often a political system that supports the Economic System that is very disconnected from service to people that obviously has created the largest wealth inequality for 100 years, but more importantly with this campaign, i want to talk about the human devastation that this has created and the kind of fundamental changes that need to happen. And what makes you qualified for the job . Ive lived for 35 years in a career where i have helped people navigate the consequences of all that damage that has been created by an irresponsible political establishment, so i have very strong ideas about how to turn all that trauma into transformation. There are people obviously who are just meeting you perhaps on this show right now who will say accomplished author, wellknown, has great connections, has proven herself that way, but not sure she should be commanding the greatest military on the face of the earth. How do you answer that . How did all the experiencedle politicians codo when we invade iraq 1234 the illusion of experienced politicians with the military i think has been put to bed by our military m misadventures of the last 50 years. So what would you do to change the direct of the war in afghanistan . One of the things that i appreciated just recently on your program is when senator shaheen talked about the women of afghanistan. I like her have been worried about the fact that were talking about these negotiations with the taliban, the taliban saying they wont let the government of afghanistan be part of that and how the women were not even discussed. So i very much appreciated that. One of the first things id do is get the women of afghanistan into the oval office to tell me their experience. I think that unfortunately like so many of our policies both domestically and internationally, our agendas are driven more by short term profit maxization anned advocacy and defense is an example of that. This is not criticism of the military. But when you have every dollar that we spend on actual peace creation, we spend over 1,000 to prepare for war. You cant back yourself into peace just like you cant just rely on medicine, you have to cultivate health. You cant just rely on preparing for war. You have to cultivate peace. Do you that by expanding Economic Opportunities for women, expanding Educational Opportunities for children, reducing violence against women, and ameliorating unnecessary human suffering. Politics of a president ial campaign are brutal. Just the bare knuckle politics. You have always tried to take the higher road of inspiring people to their better selves. What about this clash between the reality of a brutal president ial primary and the fundraising for example that has to go on . How are you reconciling who you have been as a person in terms of helping others with the reality of day to day bare knuckle ive to figure out a way to get my name out there. Im actually inspired by such people as you. Have fine people just say i wont go there . We need more fine people going there. And politics is not the only place that you have to raise money. Money doesnt create ideas, ideas create money. So i believe that you say important things and things that need to be said and i think people are adult enough to know ill have to send her some money if she will do this. Do you think youll be meet all the requirements to officially run . Absolutely i do. What have you got the . A little over 40,000. Well see what happens. Thank you very much for joining us. That is not 40,000, 40,000 of the 65,000 votes. So final thought of the morning goes to Claire Mccaskill. Well, health care sum up the day. Three are hours in five seconds. I think health care has to continue to be the most important thing that our president ial candidates talk about. I think we need to stay focused on it. It is what matters to people. The cost of prescription drugs, the scary thing going on in the courts with the rules we put in against Insurance Companies. If those president ial candidates stay focused on health care, well be successful. We have the moment in the New York Times report this morning a lot of people saw coming which is that people inside the special counsels office unhappy with attorney general barrs summary of the report. Well see if, when and how much of that full report comes out. And i thought Stacey Abrams was really cool. That does it for us. Stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. Thanks so much. This morning we have a lot to cover. Starting with lost in translation. New reporting from the New York Times that some members of Robert Muellers team believe attorney general bill barr painted too positive a picture for the president and that the barr letter shaped the entire narrative of the report while leaving out some critical facts. And a paper trail emboldened House Democrats to file a request with the u. S. Treasury asking for six years of President Trumps business and personal tax returns. Is that all . Thats all. Usually it is ten. So i guess they are giving up. Were under